Thursday, January 10, 2013

Some 15mm US from Battlefront miniatures. Seeing Michael F's Big Red One reminded me just how bad my old US stuff looked. So, I put it all into the Simple Green (paint stripper) and I have decided to repaint it all!

I have managed to get the first few units done.

We have a Company HQ, comprised of a Company Commander, 2iC and two Bazooka teams. I have chosen to represent the 104th Infantry Division, the Timberwolves, so like Michael has, I have been adding a company patch to their shoulders. Although, my phone camera is maybe a bit too bad to do it!

Next we have a Combat Engineer platoon (see top image), made up of 7 Engineer rifle teams and 4 Bazooka teams. I have used some Battlefront obstacles to remind me that they are engineers, they are clearing an anti-tank obstacle or some such.

Pretty simple paint scheme and basing, but I am really happy with how they came out. I think a comparison between old/new will have to come with the next update....

That is a great redux of an old force - I look forward to the before and after shots.

Originally finished in 'winter' camo, I recently repainted this T-50 light tank in a more conventional hue. The model is an old (early 1990s) Red Star resin kit.

The T-50 was intended to replace the T-26 series and featured a number of improvements in running gear and armour layout.

As war neared, however, some clever comrade noticed that it cost nearly as much to produce a T-50 as it did to make one of the new T-34 medium tanks. Which certainly explains why you may not have seen one before!

I did say it was a light tank - here is the T-50 next to an ArmourfastT-34

I worked on these between sessions on the investigators so I did not have a lot to finish off yesterday.

Sixteen of the twenty four figures were bought for me by my kids for my birthday last March but I needed another eight figures to make up two units.

I got these at Donnington but that's as close as they got to being painted. So it was a goal for the painting challenge to do them.

With these 24 my Late Achaemid Persian Army is as good as complete. I will paint up a few more Hoplites and I can still go more cavalry if I desire but unless I get involved in a campaign I really can call it here.

I'm not a big fan of the bases of Essex figures though the figures themselves are fine. I expect to get these on the table before the month is out.

A strikingly colourful unit and its made all the better with most of the figures being a gift from your children. You've raised them right!

This horde of Persian cavalry will give Ian a very healthy 96 points to add to his total.

These are 28mm War of the Roses. Perry miniatures plastics. Part of an ongoing huge commission.

First up are 8 x Hangunners from Warwicks retinue.

Followed by 6 x Mounted Men at Arms from Edward IV's retinue (see above as well).

Great plastic figures and a real pleasure to paint.

Very nice Kev. This is a period that I desperately want to get into but I know that once I start it will be all-consuming. I'll have to block out a year in preparation ...and a trip to the UK to research primary source material!

Edward's retinue and Warwick's handgunners will give Kev a base of 100 points but I'm adding another 4 for the standards. Well done!

Second platoon for my 'quick' Big Red one project. Again Battlefront miniatures and again lots of mold lines, flash and other annoyances.

I should have done them in greatcoats as these miniatures look much better and are easier to paint as well. Anyway, I'm getting tired of them so I will probably leave them after I finished the Weapon platoon.

Hopefully these guys will get more tabletime then my other 15mm armies.

Can't really decide what to do next. Armistead leading his Virginians, Eureka's French Revolutionary or Finnish Winter war?

Beautiful work Michael. As I said before you've really nailed the olive drab and khaki on the models in this project. I really like the shoulder insignias!

Back to my 15mm Golan Heights Project. Two more 15mm tanks, T-62s for the Syrians. These are QRF castings - again very, very poor casting quality, but still a lot better than any other options I've seen.

The bases are from Warbases, a great outfit that is replacing Litko as my "go-to" for basing requirements. They offer great quality, great service and super-fast turn around on orders.

I just finished these recently - you can still see the glue drying on the groundwork.

These raise my total complement of Syrian T-62s to thirteen tanks - a whole company, plus some command! More than enough to threaten the IDF on the gaming table!

Wow, up to thirteen T-62s now? That is impressive. I can't wait to see them all arrayed on the table with the IDF as well.

Here is another small group of SCW figures to nudge me along in the Challenge. This batch consists of a Republican officer, an NCO and few militia.I quite like the fervent pose of this infantry captain. He has that, 'Comrades, man the barricades!' look about him.

I decided to paint him in a russet brown/khaki uniform similar to one that I saw in an old Osprey. I would think he could also serve as a Soviet advisor or Political Commissar.

Here's an NCO from an International Brigade unit. He's dressed mostly in civilian clothing with only his beret insignia, cartridge belt and rifle marking him as a combatant. Hmm, speaking of which I realize now that I still need to add hash marks on his red beret flash to denote his rank.

The figure below is one of my favourite from the range so far. This old fellow, with his shoulders hunched and advancing with short steps, has an air of resigned determination about him. When I first saw him I immediately pictured him as a recent widower, perhaps having lost his wife to an air raid and so was throwing in his lot with the city militia. With this image in mind I applied some liquid Green Stuff around his left arm to give him a mourning armband which would be typical of the times. I like his white collared shirt, black tie and beret (securely pulled down around his ears). He seems ready to do his bit and perhaps even the scales.

A dashing anarchist (literally) wearing on of their signature red and black side caps (or gorrillo). I've painted the most of the militia in fairly muted earth tones to help reinforce their civilian origins.

Funny, this guy has a nose like Richard Nixon...

And finally, someone who's wearing a sensible hat for the Spanish climate...